


drag my dark into the dawn

by cylobaby27



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canonical levels of swearing, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Taako being a jerk, aka angust, angus angst, but contains vague references to lup, pre-stolen century
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 05:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11822595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cylobaby27/pseuds/cylobaby27
Summary: Taako isn't very good at emotions, but even he has noticed that there's something worrying about Angus. He decides to find out more.Step aside, World's Greatest Detective. Taako is going to stick his foot in his mouth, stumble around for a while, and avoid a conversation with the person he actually needs to talk to.





	drag my dark into the dawn

“Maggie, my dude, did you take my Cloak of the Manta Ray?”

 

Magnus looks up from the wood he is whittling on the couch. That’s not an innuendo, thank every god ever. Taako puts up with enough shit with his fellow Reclaimers without dealing with Magnus ‘whittling his wood’ in public areas. Though their updated quarters have more space than the bunks they shared with Pringles, there’s still not enough room on the moon for those shenanigans. “Uh, no?” he says.

 

“Really?” Taako challenges. “Because it’s not here, you know, on the hook it goes on. I’m trying to organize my outfit for our next hashtag-adventure, and I’m missing a key component here.”

 

“You can’t find you cloak, so your assumption is…that I took it?”

 

“Don’t think I don’t know about your little sticky-fingers training with Carey,” Taako says, flipping his hair over his shoulder. “Did you just decide to update your style? Because if so, I have a _lot_ of advice for you, my man. No need to steal Taako’s things.”

 

“Dude, I didn’t take your cloak,” Magnus says. “Did you check the last place you had it? Didn’t you take it off when we were sparring with Avi earlier?”

 

“I… Maybe,” Taako says. He flounces out of their suite without saying goodbye.

 

The training arena is occupied when Taako reached it. He can hear Killian’s distinctive shout through the outer door, which means someone is probably getting pummeled inside. (He’d learned the hard way it was worse when he _couldn’t_ hear Killian, because that apparently sometimes meant she was _busy_ with Carey, and would then kick Taako’s ass for interrupting.)

 

He strolls inside, and immediately has to deflect an attacking object with a quick mage hand. “Whoa, shit,” he says, ducking away. The ball that nearly hit his head bounces off the wall and rolls past his feet.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, sir!” Angus says, looking stricken. “I didn’t hear you come in! Are you okay?”

 

Angus is standing in the center of the icosahedron with a large, flat bat in his hands. Team Sweet Flips—better known as Carey, Killian, and NO-3113—are spaced around him, all holding at least one ball each. NO-3113 has four, balanced carefully on her mechanicals arms.

 

Taako raises his eyebrows and looks at Killian, who is wearing a fly crop top. “Did I stumble on some sort of hazing ritual of our youngest member? Come on, babe, what’s wrong with you? You have to invite Taako to this kind of shit. These are prime Taako shenanigans.”

 

“They’re not hazing me, Mister Taako! We’re training!” Angus says.

 

“There’s a ban on hazing on the moon base,” Carey adds. “Other than the ogre initiation battle thing. Once you survive that, we assume you’ve already suffered enough.”

 

“We decided that if Angus is going to be part of the Bureau, he needs to have some skills to protect himself,” Killian says. “Self-defense is important even for the brains of the operation.”

 

“This doesn’t look like self-defense,” Taako says, examining the scene again. “This looks like some sort of fantasy baseball.” Or betrayal. Isn’t Taako supposed to be Angus’s teacher? He’d thought they had a _thing_.

 

“What?” Carey asks.

 

“They’re really great teachers. I’ve actually hit a few of the balls! Not a very high percentage, according to NO-3113, but I’m working on it!”

 

“You’re doing great,” Killian tells him.

 

“So, let me see if I’m picking up what’s being put down here,” Taako says. “You conned Team Sweet Flips into playing training games with you, right? Is the Director giving you officious scowling lessons? Is Garfield the Deals Warlock teaching you how to cheat honest adventures out of their honest money?”

 

“You actually steal a lot of that money…”

 

“Don’t interrupt me, Agnes. Geez. Listen, I’m thinking maybe you’re overwhelmed with teachers right now. Maybe we should, I don’t know, cancel magic lessons or something so you have more time for Team Badass Lesbians here.”

 

“Is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?” Carey asks, seeming amused.

 

Angus, on the other hand, looks devastated. Taako feels a vicious thrill of satisfaction, which helpfully masked the strange hollow emotion that took over when he realized that Angus has other ‘great teachers’ helping him out. If you have Taako, _from TV_ , as your teacher, why would you need anyone else? “No, Mister Taako, please don’t cancel magic lessons!”

 

“ _You’re_ teaching him magic?” Killian asks. “Voluntarily?”

 

“I didn’t say anything because Mister Taako says it would ruin his reputation,” Angus says. “The magic lessons are still my favorite and I really want to keep learning. Sorry,” he adds quickly to the ladies surrounding him.

 

And now Taako just let the damn secret slip. This was mortifying. “I just don’t understand what you’re doing here, Ango. Like, geez, kid, did your parents not give you enough attention?” His words are turning into a full-on rant. “Maybe we should send him home so he’s not wasting moon base resources on buddy baseball time, you feel me?”

 

Taako would like the record to state that the only reason he doesn’t block Killian’s punch is because he has been lulled into trusting the half-orc Regulator. He should have known better than to trust someone with such a violent streak. Her fist connects with his upper arm with enough strength to send him careening sideways.

 

For a moment, there’s a strange bubble of tension in the room.

 

“You hit me!” he exclaims, and did a quick inventory of the pain. “For, like, twelve points of damage!”

 

“Just be glad I didn’t hit your stupid mouth,” Killian says. “What is your damage, Taako? Leave the kid alone.”

 

“Agnes can take it,” Taako says, waving a hand.

 

When he looks at Angus, though, it seems like the kid is _not_ taking it. There are so many tears welling in his eyes that it adds a layer of distortion on them through his oversized glasses, though he hasn’t let them spill over to his cheeks yet.

 

“Please don’t send me away, sir. I pr-promise to be good. I can stop training here?”

 

“Don’t you dare listen to him, Angus. He’s just being a brat because he’s jealous.” She whirls on Taako and snarls, “Can you get a handle on your elf baby emotions for one goddamn second and think about someone other than yourself?”

 

“Taako doesn’t think about anyone but Taako, babe.”

 

“Clearly,” Carey says.

 

When it doesn’t seem like Angus’s tears are about to clear any time soon, Taako says, “Okay, okay, kid, calm down. You should keep training with Team Sweet Flips. They’re dope ladies, or whatever.”

 

Killian glares. “You’re such an asshole.”

 

“I mean, we all knew this about me, didn’t we?” Taako asks.

 

“Are you really canceling my magic lessons?” Angus asks quietly. 

 

Taako huffs, sending a lock of hair away from where it had fallen over his face after Killian’s attack and magicking it back into place. “I mean, I guess if you _really_ want to keep training with me…”

 

“I do!”

 

“Fine, fine. Far be it for me to deny someone the joys of Taako time. Just don’t let your flipping shenanigans interfere with spell practice. You still need to shape up that mage hand of yours.”

 

“Yes, Mister Taako, sir!”

 

“Tomorrow. Don’t forget.” Finally, Taako looks around the ring and spots his cloak. “Aha, there you are.” He sweeps it up and pulls it over his shoulders. “I’ll find a use for you one day, my friend,” he tells it quietly.

 

A ball hits the wall directly beside his head, and he jumps sideways. “Can you stop that?”

 

Carey, now out of balls, shrugs. “Oops.”

 

“You’re not very sneaky,” Taako sniffs.

 

“Wasn’t trying to be.”

 

“Come on, Angus. Let’s try again,” Taako hears Killian say as he leaves the dome. It doesn’t take long for the sound of happy laughter to start again, like Taako’s intrusion hadn’t happened at all.

 

#

 

In all honesty, Taako doesn't give the incident much thought, other than nursing his sore shoulder for all the sympathy points he can. The truth is, most of the time, it's all about Team Taako. This wasn't the first time one of his comments had made Angus get weepy—or Killian get punchy—and he had more important (more Taako-centric) things to worry about.

 

Besides, Angus and Killian both forgive him by the next day. Killian punches him in the arm again, but in a friendly way, and Angus apologizes at the beginning of their next lesson and promises that his physical training isn’t interfering with his spell practice at all.

 

A week later, Taako and Angus are training together in the spare dome they’ve claimed for this purpose. Taako is leaning on his umbra staff at the corner of the room, and waves Angus to take the center. They’ve been working on the same spell for the last few days, after Angus finally manifested a small but sturdy mage hand. Fireballs have never been Taako’s strength, though he had gotten better with them ever since he’d picked up his umbra staff. It’s a useful spell, though, and a nice show of force.

 

“Just remember, Aggie. You shoot off one of these in a big enough way, no one’s going to mess with you. They’ll be like, ‘oh shit, that kid can make giant fireballs! We don’t want to fuck with him!’ And that’s half the battle, kid. Intimidation is better than a good fight.”

 

“Okay,” Angus says, squaring his shoulders and aiming his wand again.

 

“This time, just let ‘er rip! Don’t hold back,” Taako says. “Tap into whatever rage an eight-year-old has—”

 

“I’m ten.”

 

“—and fire this place up!”  


Angus takes a deep breath. There is stillness in the room for a second, and then an _enormous_ fire ball shoots out of his wand. Nearly as large as something Taako himself could have conjured, the ball zooms across the room with unexpected force and slams into the wall, leaving a burn mark as tall as the boy on the white surface.

 

“Holy _shit_.” Carefully, Taako moves to join Angus in the center of the room, staring together at the giant scorch mark.

 

Angus is shaking slightly.

 

Taako, for what might be the first time in his life, feels proud of someone who is not Taako. Could he say that? That seemed weird. Who just tells people they’re proud of them? He wishes Magnus was there. He was always gushing about how proud he was of them, even for dumb little things. Channeling his inner Magnus, without the inherent lameness, Taako claps a hand on Angus’s shoulder.

 

The move isn’t met with the delight he’s expecting.

 

Angus flinches away, his entire small body jolting to the side away from Taako’s hand. “I am so, so sorry, sir,” Angus says, voice high-pitched and quick. “I didn’t know it would do that! I’ve never done something like that before, sir! I didn’t mean to ruin the wall, sir.” He’s still wincing, tucked away onto himself like he’s trying to disappear.

 

Taako drops his hand back to his side, feeling uncomfortable. Yeah, he was a dick, but did Angus think Taako would _hurt_ him? Taako likes when people are scared of him, but only when he wants them to be. Most of the time, he likes his enemies to see him as a dunce not worth worrying about. He didn’t think _Angus_ was scared of him, not after all the time they’d spent working together.

 

“Little man, it’s all good. Taako doesn’t own the moon base. I don’t care what you scorch,” he says. “That was the dopest shit you’ve ever done, my dude.”

 

“Really, sir?” Angus still looks cautious, blinking up at Taako through his large glasses.

 

“It’s Taako, remember?” he nudges gently.

 

That’s too much for Angus to handle. “Of course, sir. I mean, Mister Taako, sir. I didn’t mean to mess it up.”

 

“Right, right, no big deal. So _listen_ ,” Taako continues, trying to smile. It works, but from Angus’s face it might have come out a bit feral. “You know that I’m, like, always up to murder people. You know that, right?”

 

“Um…”

 

“I have killed a lot of people, Agnes, and most of them deserved it. That’s something I can do for you. Do you feel me?”

 

When Angus still seems baffled, and possibly like he’s tensing for a punchline, Taako presses, “I’m just saying. If anyone ever…borrows your lunch money and forgets to pay you back, or wears a scarf that clashes with their belt, or, say, _lays a finger on you_ , or something. Taako can murder those people right then and there. Just say the word.”

 

Angus laughs weakly, in one of the worst acting displays Taako has ever seen. And he’s seen Magnus try to lie. “Sure, sir—Mister Taako.”

 

“All right. I think we’re done for the day.”

 

“Okay,” Angus says, dejected.

 

“You’ve clearly mastered this one. I need some time to think of what I’m going to teach you next! Or are you supposed to start teaching me now? Is that how this goes? I can’t tell—that fireball was so damn good that I’m worried that you don’t need me anymore. Don’t tell the Director about this, okay, kid? I’m not ready to give you my job.”

 

“I would never take your job!” Angus exclaims, but he’s brightened up from the praise. “You’re really not mad?”

 

“You did what I was trying to teach you! I always say that any training session ends with something being destroyed is a good day’s work. Destroying stuff was the whole point of this spell. And you did it! Just ask anyone. Carey, Killian, Magnus, Merle—they all love destroying stuff.”

 

“That might just be a skewed sample,” Angus said.

 

“Well, anyone who doesn’t agree is on a train to Lametown,” Taako said. “Go read a book, or whatever you do for fun. You earned a treat, my man. Usual time and place for our next sesh, okay?”

 

“Okay, Mister Taako!”

 

After Angus gathers his things and leaves the room, Taako stares at the wall for another minute. There’s something going on here that Taako is missing. There’s information he doesn’t have, and it’s not a feeling he likes. He may embrace his ‘idiot wizard’ persona because, well, fewer expectations mean fewer responsibilities, but he tries to pay attention to the important things. He thought, after the last three months of training together between other Bureau business, that he knew Angus. Hell, if he was being honest with himself—which he hated being—he trusted the boy detective more than almost anyone else on the moon base.

 

The kid was earnest and annoying in a way that made him vulnerable to the world that had been kicking Taako since he was that age. Taako was a jerk to him sometimes, but that was who Taako was. He thought Angus _knew_ that, and was a good enough detective to see through his bullshit. He’d thought, maybe, that the trust was mutual.

 

That flinch earlier, though, was not exactly a sign of trust.

 

Taako and his team had teased Angus since the day they’d met him. They’d messed up his name, stolen his books, and generally mocked him relentlessly. But they’d never _hurt_ him, never lifted a finger against him.

 

So who had?  

 

Shaking his head, Taako leaves the room without bothering to patch up the scorched wall. It adds character to the sterile base, and Taako has better things to do.

 

#

 

He finds Killian and Carey in the cafeteria. For once, they’re without their robotic third partner. They’re squeezed together on a bench near the back of the room, their backs to the wall so they could have a full view of the space. The lunch rush was long over, so the cafeteria was otherwise mostly empty. Taako ate before meeting with Angus, but he still grabs a fruit cup as a snack before approaching the Regulators.

 

“Ciao, ladies,” he says and slides onto the bench across from them.

 

“Hey, Taako,” Killian greets. She has one arm around Carey lazily. “Did you miss lunch?”

 

Taako laughs. “I don’t miss meals, pumpkin. I came to talk to you two.”

 

“What’s up?” Carey asks.

 

Taako busies himself for a long moment opening his fruit cup and selecting his first bite. Once he’s chewed and swallowed it, he finally says, “It’s about Agnes.”

 

“He’s not still mad about your temper tantrum last week,” Carey says. “I talked to him about it. He knows that’s just how you are. He still likes you.”

 

“Well, thanks, Carey. Good to know I didn’t scar him or something,” Taako says, rolling his eyes. “This is about something important.”

 

“Shoot,” Killian prompts when Taako waffles for another moment.

 

“Have either of you noticed anything weird about the kid?”

 

The women exchange a glance. “Taako, everyone here is pretty weird. Angus has his own brand going on. He’s no worse than anyone on your team. Maybe it’s hard for you guys to understand, but reading isn’t actually a disease,” Carey says.

 

“That’s not what I mean, though I resent you calling my boys weird,” Taako says.

 

“Not just your boys,” Killian says, giving him a significant once-over. He lets it slide. Let her witness his dope outfit today—he’s wearing a sequin crop top with a killer black skirt and knee-high boots—and make her own decisions. “What do you mean though?”

 

“Did something… Hm. How to put this. Do you know if Angus has been bullied, either here or before he came here?”

 

“Taako, honey, you bully him every single day,” Killian reminds him.

 

“Not teasing,” Taako says, waving her off. “Not _words_. Look, we had a moment earlier today that was just a little weird. He seemed, I don’t know, scared of me. Like he thought I was about to pull a Magnus and just punch him in the face. Except Magnus would never punch _Angus_. And I didn’t think anyone here would.”

 

The ladies exchange another glance, this one even more significant than the last.

 

“Have you actually asked Angus about this?” Carey asks carefully.

 

“What? No. Taako doesn’t talk about things. That’s not Taako’s style. The Taako method.”

 

“Yeah, well, this isn’t the kind of shit you gossip about and let other people explain for you,” Killian shoots back. “Suck it up and talk to your kid.”

 

“Angus isn’t my kid.”

 

“Like it or not, he seems to like you best out of everyone on this moon base,” Killian says. “So get over your goddamn communication issues and just have a conversation with him.”

 

“That doesn’t seem like a good idea. Remember what I said about the Taako method?”

 

“Well, you’re not getting anything else out of us,” Killian says. “Good luck, kid.”

 

Before Taako leaves, he uses mage hand to swipe a cookie off of Killian’s plate. It doesn’t taste as celebratory as he thought it would.

 

#

 

When he stalks into the common area of the Reclaimers suite a few minutes later, he finds Merle and Magnus sitting at the kitchen counter, bickering about something. After hanging up his hat and cloak with a flourish of magic to make sure they land without wrinkles, Taako walks over to his partners and strikes a pose. “Listen,” he says.

 

“We’re kind of in the middle of something here, Taako,” Merle tells him.

 

Taako ignores him. “Listen,” he repeats. “I have something important to say.”

 

“The floor is yours,” Merle says, but it sounds sarcastic.

 

“Thank you,” Taako says instead of acknowledging his tone. “Now, I know neither of you have spent much time with our local boy detective, but I’m trying to solve a mystery here. Not that either of you are better at that than me, but sometimes having your dumb faces as a sounding boards helps me find the solution. Now—”

 

“Hey, I spend time with Angus,” Magnus says.

 

Taako trails off. “You do? When?”

 

“He and I both like to hang out in the voidfish chamber with Johann. We listen to Johann’s sad jams and have some quiet time,” Magnus says. “He’s a cool kid.”

 

“Well, what about you Merle? Is _everyone_ having secret hang-outs with Angle?”

 

Merle flushes. “What? No. If we did, it would only be because he followed me somewhere. Somewhere I didn’t invite him.”

 

“I invite him to hang out,” Magnus interjects. “Sometimes. I feel bad for him. Can you imagine being a kid here?”

 

Merle turns to glare at Magnus. “Our official stance is not liking Angus, remember?”

 

“Yeah, well, our official stance is also making jokes about the cities we’ve destroyed, but we all know that’s not really how we feel, okay? We all know that just because we tease Angus doesn’t mean we hate the kid. I’ve known you guys for a long time now, and I know I’m right. We’re the good guys, even though we’re not always…good guys.”

 

Taako throws up his hands. “I need this sincerity to stop. Right now. This is Taako time.”

 

“Please,” Merle says shortly.

 

“So, I’m just worried about Angus lately,” Taako says.

 

Merle swears and stands up. “Nope,” he says. “I refuse. You guys have your gushy dad talk. Me, the guy who actually is— _would be_ a terrible father, is going to go somewhere else.”

 

Once Merle left the room, Magnus says, “Does he still think we don’t know about his secret children? He’s the worst at keeping secrets.”

 

“Let him have his dreams,” Taako says.

 

“So what’s been up with Ango?”

 

Taako recounts the moment in training earlier that day, brushing over the part where he was trying to express his pride in favor of focusing on the flinch and stuttering apologies. “Has anything like that happened to you?”

 

“It sounds like he talks to you a lot more than he does to me,” Magnus admits. “He and I mostly just sit around while I carve and he reads.”

 

“Not everyone is as amazing a conversationalist as Taako,” Taako says.

 

“Also, the kid worships the ground you walk on. I’m not surprised he latched on to you, though I am surprised you kept it a secret so long. You’re better at that than Merle.”

 

“Everyone’s better at that than Merle,” Taako says, ignoring the feelings that Magnus’s first statement bring up.

 

“But, you know, there was a weird thing a month or so ago. Angus and I were talking about dogs, because his book was talking about some cool breeds. The conversation went to dogfighting, and I got pretty passionate about it. You know, I don’t like when people are mean to dogs.” Taako tries to make his expression look surprised, though every word out of Magnus’s mouth so far has been completely predictable. “But when I was getting heated and started pacing around, Angus seemed kind of freaked.”

 

“Like he was scared?” Taako clarifies.

 

“Yeah. He flinched when I went past him, and tensed up when I made myself sit back down. You know how much I hate when people are scared of me. I thought that maybe since he didn’t know me well, my size intimidated him. If _you_ scared him, though, I’d think there’s more to it.”

 

“Not everyone is built like an oak shithouse,” Taako says.

 

“I’m not saying that because you’re small, even though you are. I’m saying that Angus _knows_ you. He should have known better. What do you think happened to him? Should we be worried? We don’t know everyone on this moon base. If someone is messing with him, we need to stop it.”

 

“You know, there was something last week,” Taako says slowly. “I mentioned his parents, and the whole situation we were in went from bad to worse. And then, when we met him, he was on a train alone to visit his grandfather. Who puts a kid on a train alone, even if they’re as smart as him? Do you think…?”

 

Magnus has a knife in his hand. Taako didn’t see him take it out, but it’s very large and glints dangerously in the kitchen lights. “His parents. Do we know where they are?”

 

“We need to find out if we’re right, because I’m pretty sure that if we’re wrong and murder his innocent parents, we’ll fuck him up worse than he already is.”

 

“I’ve talked to Lucretia about this,” Merle says, strolling back into the room. When they both looked at him, he adds, “What? You guys were getting loud, and I couldn’t take my nap in that environment. Do you want to know what she told me or not?”

 

“Go on,” Taako says.  

 

“His parents are dead,” Merle says.

 

Reluctantly, Magnus puts his knife away.

 

“The grandpa in Neverwinter is also dead. Angus is an orphan.”

 

“Back to square one, then,” Taako says.

 

“Not quite. I asked her why the hell she’d hired a ten-year-old to work on her secret moon base, and she said that Angus didn’t have anywhere else to be. _And_ she said that she thought he was better off here than he had been with his parents anyway. She didn’t give me any details, but she didn’t sound like she cared that they’d died.”

 

“So, we think his parents might have something to do with his skittishness, but they’re not even around for us to get revenge on?” Magnus asks, sounding frustrated. He stops, thoughtful. “Do you think Angus killed them?”

 

“ _Angus_?” Taako repeats. “Have you met that kid? I don’t think he’d kill an ogre that was in the process of smashing his head in. He couldn’t kill someone.”

 

“Damn,” Magnus says, clearly disappointed.

 

Taako frowns. “Well, my thought was that we would figure out who messed with the kiddo, and then kill them for him. If they’re already dead… How do we fix this?”

 

“Murder isn’t the solution to every problem,” Merle says.

 

“Yeah, well, neither is plant sex. See, you don’t like me cutting down the one thing you’re really good at, do you?” Taako folds his arms.  

 

“What I’m _saying_ , and I can’t believe I’m suggesting this either, is that you might just need to talk to him,” Merle says.

 

“Okay, Magnus, what’s your suggestion?” Taako asks.

 

“Talk to him,” Magnus says.

 

“You guys are so unhelpful,” Taako groans.

 

#

 

When Taako tries to wheedle his way into the Director’s office so he can read her files on Angus, he’s kicked out unceremoniously and told to suck it up and handle his problems like an adult.

 

#

 

In the end, Taako caves. He doesn’t know _how_ to fix this, but it seems like he’s the only one who can. For some reason, everyone he spoke to insisted that he was the person Angus trusted the most. Clearly the kid wasn’t as smart as he pretended, if that was true. Taako should not be relied on for anything more demanding than a magic missile. Even then, sometimes he’s too lazy to fire one off.

 

For Angus to pick him out of every competent adult on the moon base to imprint on is _terrifying_. Taako can’t live up to these expectations. Everyone seems to think that Taako can fix this situation, but he doesn’t know anything about comforting children. Especially if they’re right, and his parents were the complete assholes they suspect.

 

Maybe that’s _why_ Angus picked Taako, he thinks to himself as he waits for Angus to show up. Maybe Angus’s history left him messed up somehow, and he latched on to the worst possible person because of some sort of subconscious self-sabotage.

 

Even so, Taako can’t just keep ignoring this. Part of him wants to. A big part of him. It would be so much easier to pretend like he hadn’t noticed anything and just continue with their magic lessons. But Taako, over the last two days, found himself constantly distracted worrying about the kid detective. His meditation time ended up being hours of staring at the ceiling and analyzing all of his past interactions with the kid.

 

So, he invited Angus here today to try to solve this problem. He thought about having them meet in their usual training room, but this final location feels right.

 

“Hello? Mister Taako?”

 

Angus enters the kitchen slowly, his wide, bright eyes darting around the room and absorbing all the details. The kitchen, connected to the back of the cafeteria, is usually off-limits, but it was closed for the night and Taako is skilled at magicking locks open. With industrial-sized tools and all the ingredients a moon base could ask for, it was the kind of kitchen Taako had once dreamed of cooking in. Angus’s gaze snags, as it was supposed to, on the giant, glittering sign Taako has hung up in the center of the room: NO MAGIC IN THE KITCHEN.

 

Sometimes, you have to cover your insecurities with sequins.

 

On the counter, he had set out the ingredients for one of the more complicated dishes he’d once used a comfort food, including a selection of raw meat, a bundle of herbs, and a handful of aged feta cheese.

 

“What are we doing in here?” Angus asks, coming to his side.

 

Taako gives him a bright smile. “Cooking, pumpkin!”

 

“Mister Taako,” Angus says cautiously, “I thought you didn’t cook anymore.”

 

Taako refuses to let his smile drop. “Sometimes, a fellow just has to get into a kitchen, you know? It’s like how Magnus will spontaneously combust if he goes more than twelve days without petting a dog.”

 

“There are no dogs on the moon,” Angus points out.

 

“Well, shit, Magnus’s time must be running out,” Taako says. “Come on. I want your help making this recipe. Are you up for it?”

 

“Oh, yes!” Angus says.

 

“We’re making bacon and feta stuffed chicken,” Taako tells him. “I’ll start crisping the bacon if you’ll mince the herbs. Do you know how to use a knife?”

 

“Carey taught me some moves,” Angus says. He picks up the knife Taako set out for him on the counter and slowly, but methodically, twirls it in his hand. The move is unimpressive at that speed, but he has decent control over it.

 

“Whoa, tiger, we don’t want to stab anyone today,” Taako says. “You take this station and chop this into tiny pieces, all the same size. Here, I even brought a booster.” He points to the empty apple crate he’d set face-down, so Angus could reach the counter.

 

Once Angus is settled, Taako returns to his station and begins frying the bacon.

 

“Listen, Angus…” Taako says after a moment.

 

“It’s okay, sir. I know what you’re going to say.”

 

“You do?”

 

“I am the world’s greatest detective,” Angus says. “You’ve been doing your own poking around for the last few days. I noticed. We don’t need to have this talk, Mister Taako. I have everything under control.”

 

“Mhm,” Taako says. “Well, World’s Greatest Detective, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but Taako likes to hear Taako speak. Can he do that? Is that okay?”

 

“Well, if you want to. Go ahead,” Angus says, but he sounds nervous.

 

“It might surprise you to learn this now, but I wasn’t always the wildly confident star you see before you today,” Taako says, flipping the bacon. “When I was younger, I was bounced around a lot. I never really had a home. When I got old enough, I worked as a cook with traveling groups. I was always the outsider, the kid who no one knew. I was a skinny thing, and it was easy to pick on me.” He pulls the bacon from the pan and sets it onto his cutting board. “You know, I’m not a very trusting guy, and that’s where a lot of it started. I knew I couldn’t rely on anyone but Taako. Do you know what I mean?”

 

“Yes,” Angus says quietly.

 

As he chops the freshly cooked bacon, Taako wonders why it is this feels so familiar. He spent his childhood alone. No one in the camps he’d worked in as a chef had cared about him one way or another. But somehow, chopping ingredients while chatting with an unseen, trusted person at his back feels _right_.

 

“Well, I could have let that bullying stamp down on some of the sparkling personality I possess, but then the world wouldn’t have Taako,” he continues. “So, I embraced my inner awesomeness and ignored the haters.”

 

Angus doesn’t respond. Taako can hear the steady sound of his knife dicing the herbs. Either he’s being extremely fastidious with his chopping, or he also likes having the excuse not to make eye contact during this conversation. Or both.

 

“But,” Taako continues, “if you’re not a Taako, you might not be able to magic yourself into feeling better. Sometimes, you might need to talk to other people about things.” He clears his throat. “And, you know, when people have been mean to you before, it’s easy to assume that everyone new you meet is also going to be mean to you. It’s possible to misinterpret someone’s actually hilarious goofs as just cruelty. Or maybe someone was in a bad mood and took it out on you, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to hurt you. There are…levels to these things. And you have to learn who you can trust not to take things where you can’t handle them. That’s not what I mean. I don’t know how to say this. If someone hurt you before, that doesn’t mean everyone is going to hurt you. Does that make sense?”

 

“Yes, sir.” Angus takes a deep breath. “A good detective makes sure he has all of the information, and I feel like you’re working off of less than you need to. I know the Director didn’t show you my file, but you should know some things.”

 

“Mhm?” Taako prompts, trying to hide his sudden rush of anger and nerves. He doesn’t know how he’ll react to hearing Angus’s story, especially while surrounded by all these great weapons he can’t even use on the bad guys.

 

“I think you’ve jumped to some conclusions that weren’t quite true!” Angus continues. “I wasn’t an abused kid like you think I was. I’ve researched the exact standards that constitute abuse, and my parents never were that bad. I mean, they didn’t really talk to me very much. At all, really. They didn’t really like how I spent all my time in the library, or how I corrected adults who were wrong. But they usually just sent me to bed without dinner or something! They only actually _hit_ me a few times. I didn’t even bruise, usually!”

 

Taako takes a deep breath. And then another. “Pumpkin,” he says, and then stops. “You do know that any hitting would be bad, right?”

 

“I mean, yes, but a lot of people have things a lot worse. You just told me about your childhood, Mister Taako. You were all alone.”

 

“I wasn’t really a child then,” Taako points out, but then continues, “Life isn’t a misery competition. Things can be worse for one person, but still bad in another way for someone else. I know I can’t fix the past, but no one here is allowed to touch you. You know that, right? And if someone does, I’ll bake them into a pie.”

 

There was silence behind him, and then a sniffle. “You’re being really nice, Mister Taako.”

 

“I know I’m emotionally stunted, Boy Wonder, but give me some credit,” Taako says.

 

“I’m just… not sure why you care.” His voice is so small it’s hard to hear over the continued sounds of their cooking prep. By now, the herbs in front of Angus must be as small as dust. “You must feel really bad for me. I don’t want pity, sir.”

 

“Come on, Ango. You know who I am. Taako cares mostly about Taako, right? If I’m spending time on someone else, it’s because I want to be. You think I’d waste my brilliant magic teaching skills on someone who didn’t deserve my time? I’ve chosen you as my apprentice, buckaroo. What can we detect from that, Mister Detective?”

 

Suddenly, there are arms wrapped around Taako’s waist. “Does it mean you care about me?” asks a muffled voice in the vicinity of his back. It sounds like he might be crying.

 

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner,” Taako says. His voice cracks slightly, but he pushes on. “I mean, I have a reputation, so you can’t tell anyone, but yeah, kid. I like you. You’re under Taako’s wing now. I’ll still tease you, because frankly I’ve never met a kid who needs more teasing to loosen them up, but no one’ll hurt you. Got it?”

 

There’s a nod against him, and Taako sighs and twists so that he can hug Angus back.

 

For a long moment, they stand wrapped together. Taako is baffled that this small kid trusts him enough to put up with all his bullshit and still want a hug at the end of the day. Even more baffling, Taako thinks that he’d fight every person on this moon and the planet below to make sure that trust isn’t broken.

 

“I know in my brain that you wouldn’t hurt me,” Angus says quietly, voice muffled by Taako’s blouse. “But even though my brain knows it, my body still gets scared sometimes. I hope you weren’t offended the other day.”

 

“Psh, don’t worry about it for a sec. It takes a lot more than that to offend me, kiddo,” Taako says.

 

It takes Taako longer than he would like to admit to finally pull away from the embrace. “Okay, okay, enough hugging. I’m done with the hugging,” he says. “This chicken isn’t going to cook itself, and that’s the real reason we’re here tonight.”

 

Angus clearly sees through his bluster. “Okay, Mister Taako,” he says.

 

While the chicken roasts in the oven, Taako walks Angus through some knife techniques he’s picked up over the years. He keeps a careful eye on Angus’s fingers, but the boy detective is as fastidious with the blade as he is with everything else.

 

They don’t talk about their pasts again, but the knowledge is there. When Taako gently hip-checks Angus while moving past him, he hesitates for a second, worried that he’s upset the kid. Angus just laughs, though, and moves out of the way.

 

Finally, the chicken is crisp and fully cooked, and Taako pulls it out of the oven with a pair of bright pink oven mitts. Mage hand would be easier, but Taako is serious about his “no magic” rule.

 

Besides, the oven mitts look dope with his matching apron.

 

Taako admires the flaky skin and fabulous aroma coming off the chicken, and then claps his hands. “And that’s it!” he exclaims. “Okay, it’s way past your bedtime, little man. Off you go.”

 

“Aren’t we going to eat it?”

 

Taako freezes. Right. Most people eat food after they cook it. Since Taako has slowly started entering kitchens again after the Temporal Chalice revealed that Glamour Springs hadn’t been his fault, he had cooked studiously, examined his dishes at the end, and then slid them whole into the trash.  

 

Angus, with more perception than Taako would usually like, continues, “It’s okay, Mister Taako. You’re a very powerful wizard, and I’m the world’s greatest detective! Nothing dangerous could slip by us.”

 

“You’ve extensively studied poisons and spoiled foods?” Taako asks skeptically.

 

“I’ve studied everything extensively,” Angus confirms. “Besides, this is the first dish I’ve ever made for myself that was more complicated than a sandwich! I’d like to see how we did.”

 

Taako considers that. They both deserve a reward for getting through their teary conversation earlier. “Well, prepare your taste buds, my dude, because it’s going to blow your mind.” Taako steels himself, and then plates the chicken. Though neither of them discuss it, Angus lets Taako take the first bite. It tastes…amazing.

 

They eat standing up in the middle of the kitchen in comfortable silence.

 

Once they’re finished, Taako finally uses the night’s first bit of magic to magic all of the dishes into the sink for the morning crew to find.

 

(“Isn’t it rude to make someone else clean our mess?” Angus asks.

 

Taako shrugs. “I’m tired, my man.”)

 

Since it’s well past midnight and the moon base campus is dark, Taako walks Angus back to his room. He knows that the kid detective would be fine on his own, but it feels wrong to leave him wandering in the dark. Angus’s room, which he has to himself, is in the same dome as the Director’s chambers.

 

At the door, Angus says, “I just want to say thank you for tonight. Thank you for thinking about me, and for bothering to ask what was wrong.”

 

“You’re not the only detective on this moon base, even if you are the best. Get some sleep, kiddo. I’m not taking responsibility if you’re sleepy tomorrow.”

 

Angus opens his door. “Goodnight!” he says.

 

“Love you, cupcake,” Taako murmurs.

 

Angus’s breath catches. “I love you too, Mister Taako,” he says, before closing the door.

 

Taako stares at it for a long moment. What did he do to deserve the kid’s trust? It doesn’t matter. Taako knows when he had a good thing, and he isn’t going to waste this. He may not be good at emotions, but he’s a quick learner.

 

#

 

The next time Angus meets with Team Sweet Flips for a training session (a game of catch), Angus asks Taako to join them.

 

With a laugh, Taako says, “Physical activity isn’t Taako’s strong point, my dude. Ask someone like Magnus. He could throw that ball through somebody.”

 

“Well, I’m not really looking for the strongest Reclaimer,” Angus admits quietly. “I just wanted your company. It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

 

Taako goes. Angus beams.

 

Though Killian not-at-all-accidentally throws a ball directly at Taako’s face, it’s fun. Taako would do worse than a game of catch to see Angus smile like that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Writing Taako's POV was like getting high on sequins and self-esteem. I've listened to the entirety of the TAZ podcast twice in the last month, and I couldn't resist this plot bunny once it got in my head.
> 
> Title comes from The Score's song "Revolution," which feels very TAZ to me.


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